


fever fog

by ballonlea



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death In Dream, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Sickfic, Violence in Dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24653920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballonlea/pseuds/ballonlea
Summary: Chikage had the same nightmare again and again and again, and the feelings were only worse when he was sick.He was just glad that this time, he didn't have to wake up alone.
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage
Comments: 6
Kudos: 106





	fever fog

Chikage had heard the sound of gunshots many, many times before, but none of them made his blood run as cold as it did when he heard the shot and saw Itaru go down.

Everything was a blur, then. He could vaguely hear Hisoka’s voice in his head, telling him to take it easy, but he instead made quick work of the enemy. He’d thrown strategy out the window and went straight for brute force, and he couldn’t tell if he was killing or just hurting, but he ran back to Itaru once every single body was on the ground.

Itaru was barely breathing, a gaping hole in his chest. The hole contorted with every labored breath Itaru took, and he looked at Chikage with eyes that saw much farther than what was in front of him.

“Hey,” Itaru said, blood pooling up in his mouth. He coughed, getting it all over his shirt. “I-I’ll respawn or something, right?”

"Right," Chikage said. "You'll respawn."

"I knew it. I knew I would." Itaru smiled. "I'll be back soon. I love you."

Chikage tried to respond, tried to shout the words _I love you_ for the first time in his entire life, but couldn’t. His throat was dry, and it burned, and he might have thrown his voice out screaming at the people who killed the love of his life. The light faded from Itaru’s eyes, and he heard footsteps. Familiar footsteps.

Somehow, Spring Troupe had found them, and Sakuya was trying to say something, and then Citron was trying to say something and then way too many people were trying to say something and then there were  _ tears  _ streaming down Chikage’s face and then—

And then Chikage was awake—really, genuinely awake—with Itaru leaning over him, all in one piece and chest taking normal breaths, and all Chikage could do was lunge at Itaru and hug him as tightly as he could, as much as he could.

“Hey,” Itaru said, a nervous laugh punctuating the greeting this time, instead of the horrible bubbling sound from the dream. “You’ve been in and out all day.”

“Itaru…”

“Yeah, I’m right here.” Itaru’s hand rubbed slow circles on Chikage’s back. “Looked like you were having a nightmare.”

“You were dead,” Chikage said, throat scratchy and burning just like it had been in the dream.

Itaru’s hand moved to run fingers through Chikage’s hair instead, gently settling everything in place after such a restless sleep. The other arm remained where it was, wrapped securely around Chikage’s body. “That one again, huh...” He trailed off for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“You were dead,” Chikage repeated, because in his fever-foggy mind, it was the only thing he could think to say.

“Well, I’m not dead anymore, so it’s okay,” Itaru said. “Revived with full HP and MP because your love is so powerful.”

His love... That was right—in the real world, Itaru knew how much Chikage loved him.

Chikage would have sighed in relief if he hadn’t still been shaking, almost sobbing from the nightmare. It was enough to break him away from the world in his dreams, though; he felt a lot more grounded with Itaru stroking his hair and cracking jokes. He could tell he’d been laying on the couch, and that he was a few liters too sweaty for comfort, and that Itaru must have been waiting for him to wake up for a while now—the midboss music from KniRoun XI’s final dungeon played muffled through the pause screen’s sound filter.

Right. No matter how real the dream had felt, he was back in the  _ actual  _ real world now.

He pulled away from Itaru slowly, hesitant to let go. The only light in the room came from the TV, and it illuminated Itaru’s features in a way that would have been elegant, if Chikage could pretend to ignore the fact that Lancelot was frozen on the screen mid-combo attack. Itaru smiled at him, gentle in the same way he did when he thought Chikage couldn’t see him, and pushed Chikage’s sweat-soaked fringe out of his face.

“A little better?” Itaru asked, and when Chikage nodded, he added, “I think your fever might break soon.”

Chikage was definitely grateful for that. He’d been sick for a few days now, with the rest of Spring Troupe checking in on him, but he was eager to get back to normal. And maybe he’d been a little too eager, since he was pretty sure pushing himself too far was what forced his body to sleep all day.

Itaru reached to grab a bottle of water off the table. “Tsuzuru said you should drink this and go back to sleep. In your actual bed if you can. He told me to make sure you do.”

“Can I watch you fight Tristan first?” Chikage asked, glancing at the paused screen. In this edition of KniRoun, Tristan had turned against the rest of the knights and attempted to overthrow King Arthur. He was the final boss, and if Itaru had picked the correct options throughout the rest of the game, it would end with Lancelot convincing Tristan to come back to knighthood, and Tristan accepting.

At least, that was what Itaru had told him the past few times he’d played this game. Knowing him, it’d take a half-hour or so to go from the midboss to the fight with Tristan, which seemed like enough time for Chikage to fully shake the nightmare off.

“Okay,” Itaru said, after thinking about it for a moment. Chikage shifted to make room for Itaru on the couch, and Itaru gathered up a blanket and the game controller from a spot on the floor. “But you have to sleep afterwards. Tsuzuru said—”

“I know how much to sleep.”

“I’m sure you do, Mr. Stays Out Until Four In The Morning When He Has Work At Eight.”

“That’s different,” Chikage said, feeling a lot better now that Itaru was closer to him, his head on Chikage’s shoulder. “That’s still work.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Itaru unpaused the game, immediately falling back into Lancelot’s stride. “I’ll be done quick. It’s the true ending, so I just gotta do the negotiation after the fight instead of that long ass cutscene.”

As Itaru worked his way through the last part of the dungeon, the more gruesome details of Chikage’s nightmare started to fade away. He was a lot more interested in listening to the curses Itaru whispered under his breath every time he hit a dead end on one of the randomly generated floors or focusing on the warm feeling he got when Itaru pressed kisses to the back of Chikage’s hand during the loading screens.

It wasn’t until the game was finished, when Chikage had achily climbed up the ladder to his bed with Itaru right behind him, that Chikage mumbled, “You’re setting yourself up to get sick.”

“Whatever,” Itaru said. “I gotta keep the nightmares away. Nightmares won’t mess with you if you’re with the Demon King.”

Chikage laughed this time, a welcome sensation. “Right. I forgot about that.”

“It’s okay.” Itaru wrapped his arms around Chikage once again, his chest to Chikage’s back. “It’s probably because I have to erase your memory every time I get too powerful.”

Chikage was fairly certain the incident Itaru was referring to was the other week, when he’d kissed Chikage with a staticky shock and did some weird hand movement afterwards. Chikage had  _ tried  _ to convince him that it was his socks against the rug and not his powers awakening, but Itaru wasn’t having it.

Eventually, Chikage eased back into sleep with a much lower fever, and as he listened to the sound of Itaru’s slow, even breaths, he knew that that nightmare wouldn’t be coming back for a long while.

  
  


(In the morning, Itaru was sniffling while Chikage felt just fine. Chikage made some witty remark about how the alleged Demon King could fight off nightmares but not a cold, and Itaru shot him such a sharp glare that it almost hurt—but that glare softened into a smug smile, and Itaru said something like  _ hey, I’m glad you admitted I kept the nightmares away.  _ It felt more normal than Chikage had felt in days, and he kissed Itaru with a gentleness he didn’t know he had in him.

(Of course, he proceeded to call Itaru’s stuffy nose gross directly afterwards, which caused him to start grumbling in a way Chikage could only describe as incredibly fond.)

**Author's Note:**

> another warm-up that got out of hand...... ^__^ oops!!!
> 
> thanks for reading, i hope you liked it!!!!! please talk to me about ckit on [twitter](https://twitter.com/mezzosaka)!!!!!!!


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